Chamber and committees

As highlighted in the launch of Police Scotland's Body Worn Video (BWV) rollout, around 750 Tayside (D) Division officers, including road policing officers, operational support and custody staff, will be equipped with the new devices over the coming weeks. As the roll out progresses, Police Scotland will issue more than 10,500 Home Office-approved Motorola VB400 cameras to frontline officers from constable to inspector ranks, and to police custody staff, across the country.

Previously to this national rollout, approximately 440-Armed Policing Officers have access to BWV. BWV has been used in A Division since 2010 as part of a legacy Grampian Police deployment and currently have 228 operational devices in use on a pool basis. The national BWV solution will replace this legacy system in line with other divisions.

In total approximately 1440 BWV devices are currently operational with a mixed estate of both pool and personal issue. Training across Tayside is currently ongoing, which will increase officer use of this technology daily.

Police Scotland have advised that their Body Worn Video (BWV) Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) has been developed in collaboration with the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) and other partners to ensure officers capture end to end footage, including the events leading up to an incident, to provide best evidence in any prosecution case.

Guidance on when officers should press record on their Body Worn Camera is set by Police Scotland to encompass all policing responsibilities whether criminal or not. This is set out in section 5 of the Police Scotland BWV SOP which says:

In the following circumstances, all BWV users present/attending must activate recording on their BWV cameras;

• Prior to arriving at the incident.
• Prior to utilising blue lights.
• Prior to stopping persons or vehicles.
• When an armed Police Officer or a specially trained officer (STO) is authorised to deploy, or self deploys to a firearms/TASER incident they will immediately commence recording.
• When there is an armed policing operation and following an instruction by the relevant Armed Policing Command.
• At the first available opportunity for spontaneous incidents.

All Police Scotland Standard Operating Procedures recognise that policing is a dynamic profession, and the standard response may not be appropriate in every circumstance. In every situation, the decisions and actions should be supported by the National Decision Model and based on the values and ethics of Police Scotland. BWV users may be expected to provide a clear and reasonable rationale for any decision or action which they take.

The BWV Standard Operating Procedure can be accessed publicly:

https://www.scotland.police.uk/spa-media/oqtjeuqf/body-worn-video-sop-police-scotland-publication-scheme.docx.

The Minister for Housing and I wrote to the Convener of the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee on 11 March outlining some of the challenges that remained around the implementation of the Domestic Abuse (Protection) (Scotland) Act 2021 and our planned next steps - Letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs and the Minister for Housing, 11 March 2025.

By way of an update I can advise that the workshop referenced within my letter and in connection with Domestic Abuse Protection Orders which is Part 1 of the Act, has now taken place, and involved members of the Implementation Advisory Board originally established to help make progress on the work in this area.

I am currently awaiting advice from officials and will look to reflect on the outcomes and discussions at the workshop, with the aim to provide clarity on how we will move forward in the coming months.

In addition, I can also advise that in relation to Part 2 of the Act, draft statutory guidance and information about the secondary legislation required for implementation is currently being shared with key stakeholders with a view to laying this legislation in summer and publishing the guidance as soon as possible thereafter. We are aiming to bring Part 2 of the Act into force in December 2025. Court rules will however also need to be updated and this may affect the timetable.

Police Scotland currently deploys Body Worn Video (BWV) to officers in Tayside, Armed Policing and as part of a legacy Grampian Police solution in A division.

In total, Police Scotland currently owns the following devices:

A Division (legacy solution) – 228 (to be replaced with national solution devices)

Armed Policing – 473

National BWV Project – 5072 to be rolled out as part of national rollout, this number will increase further as the rollout progresses and further cameras are purchased.

Following commencement of a national BWV solution in Spring 2025 to Tayside Division, Police Scotland have advised that the target schedule to complete rollout is Summer 2026 for circa 10,695 front-line officers and staff and then into Spring 2027 for rollout to the remaining officers and staff.

(a)The Scottish Government is taking a phased approach to the development of Bairns’ Hoose, to create a system that works nationally and allows for flexibility to accommodate the needs of different areas (urban, rural, island) across Scotland. The first – Pathfinder - phase began in October 2023 with the announcement of six Pathfinder and four Affiliate partnerships. Each partnership is delivering some Bairns’ Hoose services with four partnerships currently delivering these from Bairns’ Hoose sites. We continue to work collaboratively with all ten partnerships as they trial the Bairns’ Hoose Standards.

(b)The Bairns’ Hoose programme is already improving children and young people’s experiences of the child protection, justice and health services as partnerships start to introduce Bairns’ Hoose services across Scotland.

One of the strands of the Pathfinder phase is to establish a core indicator set which will include information on the numbers of children accessing services.

The Scottish Government invested approximately £40k to support the important work of the National Bairns' Hoose Governance Group. The Group held its final meeting in June 2024 and has since been replaced by the National Bairns Hoose Implementation Group.

To date, the Scottish Government has supported the Pathfinder phase of Bairns’ Hoose development with an almost £10 million investment from 2023 to 2025.

We believe that appropriate trauma-informed services and support should be available to all children who need them. Our phased approach to Bairns’ Hoose testing and implementation will help ensure that the principles of Bairns’ Hoose can meet the individual needs of any child, wherever in Scotland they are, who may be referred to Bairns’ Hoose services.

In accordance with the Programme for Government 2024-25, we are working with partnerships across Scotland to test our approach to Bairns’ Hoose across ten areas – providing safe, trauma informed environments for child victims and witnesses to access multi-agency support and recovery services – ahead of a national rollout, incrementally, from 2027.